


Never Trust a Con Man

by ranereins (shadowintime)



Series: Never Trust a Con Man [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-31
Updated: 2011-08-31
Packaged: 2017-10-23 07:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowintime/pseuds/ranereins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Danny's life as Five-0's team leader could not be described as easy by any means, but when a con man named Steve comes to Oahu, his life becomes infinitely more difficult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Steve/Danny bang at [stevedannoslash](http://stevedannoslash.livejournal.com/) on LJ.
> 
> Beta'd by the wonderful sgflutegirl
> 
> The idea for this fic came to me after I saw the photos from Alex's GQ photo shoot. Specifically, [this one](http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a261/swiftrayne/Hawaii%20Five-O/GQStyle_04.jpg). *eg*
> 
>   
>  [ ](http://ohana-favorites.livejournal.com)   
> 

“Hello sir, what can I get you this fine day?” Kamekona asked as Danny leaned on his counter.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the man. “Some information would be great.”

“The tourist information center is that way,” he said, pointing up the road vaguely.

“Yeah, very funny. I get it, I’m a… what’s the word again?”

“Haole,” the man leaning against the other end of the counter supplied. He had an Australian accent.

Danny’s brow rose as he looked at the man. “He calling you that too?”

The man laughed. “Nah.”

Danny’s brow switched directions and furrowed as he stared at the man. When he said nothing to elaborate, Danny turned back to Kamekona. “Okay, so I’m a haole but I live here now, so can we please just not do this every time we see each other?”

“How about a shave ice?” Kamekona asked, pointedly making no promises.

Danny sighed and dug his wallet out. “Fine, alright, give me a snow cone and one of those tents.”

“We don’t sell tents,” Kamekona informed him as he scooped shaved ice into a cup.

“Oh right, you call them shirts.” Danny gave him a small smile.

“Just for that, you’re buying a keychain too.”

“I usually do.” Danny slapped a few bills down on the counter.

Kamekona glanced between Danny and the Australian who was staring at Danny with a small smirk as he put another spoonful of red ice into his mouth. He placed the blue shave ice in front of Danny. “Here you go.”

“Who’s this?” Danny asked, nodding to the man.

“Oh, this is Steve,” Kamekona replied. “He’s new to the island.”

“Steve MaGarrett,” the man said with a nod. “How’s it goin’?”

“Good.” Danny gave the man a thorough onceover as he extended his hand. “Detective Danny Williams.”

“Detective, eh?” A flash of something that seemed very much like a look of mischief passed over Steve’s face and was gone in an instant. Steve shook his hand, holding onto it for longer than necessary. “I would have figured tight-ass businessman, what with the tie and dress shoes on the beach… in hundred degree temperature.”

Danny gave him a small, tight lipped smile as he looked at the distressed board shorts hanging low on Steve’s hips. “Forgive me for trying to bring a little professionalism to the law enforcement in this hellhole.”

Steve arched a brow. “Hellhole? This is Hawaii… it’s paradise… or did you not get that memo?”

“Daniel here doesn’t like Hawaii. He likes Jersey.”

Steve laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding?”

“Nope.”

“Jersey is a wonderful place,” Danny said defensively.

Steve held up his hands. “Alright, to each their own I suppose.”

“Damn straight.”

“If you’re lolo,” Steve muttered before shoving another bite of red ice into his mouth.

“What’d you just say?” Danny demanded.

“Nothing, I didn’t say a thing.”

Danny stared at the tattoo on his right arm. “That a prison tat?”

“Maybe.”

“Well maybe you should just be on your way then unless you’d like another.”

With a small smirk that was hidden from Danny’s view, Steve pushed away from the counter and raised the snow cone cup to Kamekona. “Thanks for the shave ice… best I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you,” Kamekona said politely. “Please come again… Five-0 isn’t always here to scare off customers.”

Danny glared at him, his blood pressure reaching an unhealthy level. “Now, about that information…”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“Hey Chin, I need you to run a check on a guy by the name of McGarrett, Ste...”

“Steve McGarrett?”

“Yeah,” Danny replied with a slight frown. “How’d you know that?”

Chin chuckled. “I used to know him.”

“Really? Kamekona said that he was new to the island.”

“I’m sure that he convinced him of that. Steve and his sister weren’t born here, but their dad moved them here when they young. Steve’s dad was my mentor when I joined the HPD.”

“What’d you mean by that first part? That you’re sure he convinced the big guy that he was new to the island?”

Chin’s grin grew impossibly wider. “Steve’s a conman… among other things.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… this guy’s dad was a cop and he’s a conman? What, did daddy not hug him enough?”

“No, he and his dad got along great; most people would envy how close they were.”

“So what happened?”

Chin shrugged. “Nothing happened. Steve just had the natural gift.” He laughed. “It’s pretty funny; when Steve actively tried to stay out of trouble, that’s when he got into the most trouble, but when he didn’t, he almost never got caught.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose; he could feel a headache coming on. “So what you’re saying is that he broke the law to stay out of trouble?”

“Sometimes.”

“This guy is going to be a pain in my ass, I just know it… I already have a headache just from knowing of his existence and it’s only been a half an hour.”

Chin chuckled. “Most of the illegal stuff that Steve does is just for fun; he gets off on it.”

“Don’t all criminals?”

“Maybe. Steve’s an enigma though; he’s definitely not your average conman. He isn’t always scoping out targets and he isn’t the type to scam someone out of their entire life savings or anything; he never cons anyone that could really be hurt by it. In fact, I’ve only known of him conning someone for monetary gain twice, and the marks kind of deserved it. He’s really pretty easy going and an overall good guy.”

“He can’t be a criminal and a good guy at the same time,” Danny insisted.

“Look brah, I know you see law enforcement as a black and white thing – someone is either good or bad – but Steve’s an exception. He’s a good guy with occasionally less than legal intentions.”

“Ok, whatever,” Danny replied, ignoring Chin’s testament to Steve’s good nature. “Print me out his file, will ya?”

“You got it boss.” Chin sent Steve’s file to the printer and looked at Danny out of the corner of his eye as he headed towards his office. “You’re already on his radar, aren’t you?”

Danny stopped and looked at the floor, not bothering to turn around. “Probably.”

Chin bit the inside of his lip in an attempt to suppress a smile. “Just try to stay clear of him and pretend that he doesn’t bother you if you can; if there’s not any fun in it for him, he’ll get bored and leave you alone.”

“I have a feeling that’s something that’s _way_ easier said than done.”


	2. Chapter 2

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and shook his head as he looked over McGarrett’s file. Steve had been to prison twice, both short stents for minor crimes, and had gotten early release for good behavior both times.

His first sentence was at the age of 16 for solicitation of an officer of the law. The details of that particular crime were sketchy at best, but it sparked an investigation and the eventual termination of the officer involved. The second sentence had come down 5 years ago; Steve had been present during the takedown of a money laundering scheme. He was running a con on the money launders and got a reduced sentence because of his lack of involvement in the actual operation. Figured. All things considered, this guy must have been born in a field of four-leaf clovers because most people would still be locked away for those crimes. For Magarrett’s luck, at least one of those four-leaf clovers must still be stuck to his ass.

So Steve had been released from a prison in Sydney not long ago and had just gotten off of a surprisingly short parole. And he’d already managed to scrape together enough money for a plane ticket? By less than legal means no doubt.

Danny flipped back to McGarrett’s general info, which he had flipped past to get right to the interesting parts. He noticed Steve’s place of birth and shook his head.

Chin poked his head into Danny’s office. “Hey boss, we’re clocking out.”

Danny gave him and Kono a quick glance before returning to the file. “Yeah, okay, see ya.”

Chin smirked a little. “Interesting read, isn’t it?”

“The guy isn’t even Australian! He was born in the states and then moved to Hawaii. Only time he’s ever been to Australia is when he was running a con, got caught and spent time in prison!”

“He was pretending to be Australian?”

“Yeah. And he was good, I never even gave it a second thought… even after I knew he was a conman.”

Chin laughed. “Steve could convince a blind man that he could see.”

“I kind of wanna meet this guy,” Kono said, smiling slyly.

“No, no you do not.” Danny closed the file and leaned back in his chair. “The more I read, the more this guy annoys me just on principle.”

“Why don’t you come have a drink with us then?”

“Thanks, but I can’t; I’m picking up Grace in a little while.”

“Ah, alright, have fun then.”

“Tell Grace I say hi,” Kono added.

“Hey Chin, before you go… what do you know about this thing here…” Danny flipped back to the records for Steve’s first documented offence, “this solicitation of an officer of the law?”

“Let’s just say that Steve was a perfect example of jailbait,” Chin replied with a chuckle.

“It says that an officer was fired, but it doesn’t say why…”

“Let me rephrase that… Steve was a particular type of jailbait. He’s got a thing for people who can arrest him and the people who can arrest him have a difficult time saying no.”

“He was 16 years old!” Danny said in disbelief.

“Yeah, but you should have seen Steve when he was 16.” Chin raised his eyebrows and mouthed ‘wow’ before heading towards the elevator.

“Now I really want to meet this guy,” Kono said. Chin gave her a look. “What? I just wanna see what all the fuss is about.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“Hey big guy, can we get a couple snow cones?”

Kamekona smiled. “Sure thing! You want a t-shirt to go with that?”

“It is the weekend, I am teaching my daughter to surf,” Danny began, “no, I do not want a t-shirt.”

Kamekona frowned. “Fine.” He smiled at Grace. “What flavor do you want Gracie?”

“Umm…” Grace looked over the bottles of colorful syrup.

“Might I suggest the red? It’s really good.”

Grace looked at the snow cone in the man’s hand and smiled. “I’ll have one of those.”

Australian accent. Danny’s head shot up and he found Steve in the exact same spot at the end of the counter as he had been the previous day, smiling that bright smile that made Danny want to punch him for unknown reasons. “What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are, having a shave ice. Is that a crime Detective?”

Danny narrowed his eyes at the conman, what Chin had said about Steve being a special kind of jailbait running through his mind. “Not unless you’re stalking me.”

Steve smirked. “I’m not the stalker type; too much work. I prefer to just wait until they come to me.”

Kamekona looked between the two men as he poured syrup on Grace’s shave ice, confused, and handed it to her. “Here you go Gracie.”

Danny smiled down at his daughter. “Hey Monkey, why don’t you go eat your snow cone over at that table right there.” He pointed to a table that was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear whatever conversation might ensue, but close enough that he could keep an eye on her. “I’ll be right over, okay?”

Grace smiled. “Okay daddy.”

“Cute kid,” Steve remarked, smiling softly as he watched her walk to the table.

“Don’t, just don’t,” Danny said, a warning mingled in his tone. “And you can drop the accent, I know it isn’t real.”

“You looked me up.” Steve’s accent vanished and his smirk returned. “I’m flattered.”

“Don’t be. I knew you were trouble with a capitol T from the moment I laid eyes on you, I just wanted to find out exactly how much.”

“Whoa, you’re not really Australian?” Kamekona said, astonished. “You certainly had me fooled.”

“It’s what he does,” Danny replied. “He’s a conman.”

“I think that’s a little harsh. I prefer ‘truthfully challenged’.”

Danny smiled a tight-lipped smile. “Funny, I prefer criminal.”

“You’re welcome to slap your cuffs on me,” Steve challenged, his eyes flaring with… was that lust?

Kamekona sat a blue shave ice on the counter in front of Danny. Danny paid him and picked up the snow cone. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll come to that eventually and you’ll wish you’d never made that offer.”

Steve arched a brow suggestively as he watched Danny make his way over to Grace. “You should really try the red, it’s amazing.”

“I’m good with blue.”

“You’ll come ‘round.”


	3. Chapter 3

Danny’s weekend with Grace was cut a day short by the emergence of a man by the name of Kai Shohei who had broken into the houses of three women in the past forty-eight hours and sexually assaulted them before killing them. One of the women had been a close friend of the Governor and she wanted Shohei apprehended last week.

“Alright, what have we got? Anything?” Danny asked, taking another large swig of his cold coffee.

Chin stood over the table monitor and flipped through a few files. “Far as I can tell this guy’s got no friends or family, there’s no video of him on any traffic cams, no viable tips from the hotline HPD set up… this guy is a ghost in the wind.”

“Come on, how is that even possible? This guy literally broke down the doors to these women’s houses, left DNA in various forms everywhere, did it all in broad daylight and yet the part that he’s careful about is staying under the radar while he looks for his next victim?”

Chin shrugged. “Apparently.”

Kono jogged in. “Hey guys, we may have something!”

“Please tell me that it’s not another body.”

“No. HPD just forwarded us a call from a home security company. They just got an alert that the security alarm at the house of,” Kono checked the paper that she had written the name down on, “Mary Ann Adams went off. About ten seconds later it was disarmed. They called the house to make sure that everything was okay but there was no answer.”

“Alright, let’s go!” Danny ordered, already jogging towards the elevator.

 

When they arrived at the house, they found a blue truck in the driveway. From the outside, nothing looked disturbed or out of the ordinary but that was Shohei’s M.O.

Danny drew his gun and signaled Kono and Chin to flank each side of the house and go around back while he took the front. Chin and Kono nodded before heading off in their specified directions.

Danny cautiously crept towards the front door, keeping an eye out for any movement or anything suspicious. As he reached the door, he surveyed it critically; there was no visible sign of forced entry like there had been at the three previous houses. He carefully tested the doorknob and, finding that it was unlocked, silently made his way inside.

The front room was clear so Danny made his way up the stairs. Chin and Kono would clear the living room and kitchen from their entry point. He carefully made his way up the stairs and started down the hall. Just as he reached the first door, it opened and a man emerged, scrubbing a towel over his hair.

“Freeze!” Danny yelled. The man started to turn around and Danny tackled him to the ground without a second thought, not giving the man a chance to attack him. The man’s face hit the floor with a loud thud. Danny pointed his gun at the back of his head. “Don’t move.”

“Ow! Damnit, what the hell?!” Steve shouted, angling his head to the side to try to get a look at his attacker. Upon seeing Danny, regardless of the gun pointed at his face, he smiled. “Well hello Detective, this is a pleasant surprise.”

“McGarrett?!” Danny asked, confused by this sudden turn of events. “What are you doing here? Scratch that, stupid question.”

Steve smirked as he turned over on his back, placed his hands behind his head and drew one leg up so that his thigh was firmly pressed against Danny’s buttocks. “Well I was going to do some work on my sister’s house, but this is much better.”

Kono and Chin rushed up the stairs after ensuring that the rest of the house was clear, guns trained on the man that Danny had pinned to the ground. Once the scene before him began to sink in, Chin relaxed and lowered his shotgun. “I see you’ve got the situation in hand.”

“Yeah,” Danny and Steve replied simultaneously. Danny shot him a look.

Kono lowered her weapon and looked between the three, confused. “What’s…?”

“Kono, meet Steve McGarrett,” Chin said with a smirk. Steve gave her a smile and a quick wave.

Kono grinned. “Ooohhh, so this is Steve.”

“What’s wrong with you two? He’s breaking and entering…”

Steve frowned. “No I’m not. This is my sister’s house; I’m doing some repairs for her.”

“I knew this place looked familiar; this was Steve and Mary’s dad’s house… or it used to be before he passed away.”

“ _I_ have permission to be here, you don’t,” Steve said. “I’m willing to look past _your_ breaking and entering though…”

Danny quickly stood as he felt Steve’s hips surreptitiously rise the short distance to his and grabbed Steve’s tank top, pulling him up by it. “Yeah, well, we’re going to need to check out your story.” Danny pulled out his cuffs.

Steve eagerly held out his wrists. “Take your time.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Oh my God, Steve!” Mary exclaimed as she hurried up the driveway. “What did you do?”

Steve frowned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence on my innocence, sis.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “ _Did_ you do something?”

“No, unless showering is a crime now. They thought I broke in. I tried to tell them that I was doing some repair work for you, but they wouldn’t listen.” Mary visibly relaxed. “Honestly though, I think Detective Williams here just has a thing for me and doesn’t want to admit it.

Danny gritted his teeth and forced himself to ignore Steve’s comment. He looked at Mary. “Is this true ma’am? Did Mister McGarrett have permission to be in your house?”

“Mister? So formal. Steve is just fine… though you can call me anything you’d like, I’d be okay with it.”

Mary gave her brother a look that both warned and begged him not to push it; he was in enough trouble as it was. “Yes, of course he does.”

“Mary!” a man called out as he rushed towards her. “Mary, are you and Jack okay?”

“Jack, who’s Jack?” Danny asked urgently, wondering if there was someone else that he needed to be worried about. “And who are you?”

“Jack is our son and this is my husband Mark,” Mary clarified. She turned to Mark. “Jack’s still at school; Rachel is watching over him. I didn’t see any need to alarm him and I figured that he’s safer there.”

“Rachel? Rachel Edwards?” Danny asked.

“Yes, you know her?”

“She’s my ex-wife. How do you know her?”

“She teaches another class in the same grade as I do. We’re also friends.”

“So what’s going on here?” Mark noticed Steve, handcuffed and sitting on the front steps for the first time. “What’s he doing here? What did he do?”

“Mark doesn’t like me,” Steve informed Danny, noticing his confused look.

“I know the feeling,” Danny muttered.

“He didn’t do anything honey, it was just a big misunderstanding.”

“So why is he here?”

Mary fidgeted for a moment. “He was replacing the rafters in the living room.”

“What?! I told you I didn’t want him anywhere near our house!”

Steve sighed. “He really doesn’t like me.”

Mary straightened to her full height, though she still had to look up at her husband, and crossed her arms. “First off, this was mine and Steve’s house before it was our house. Secondly, he is my brother and I don’t care whether you like him or not, he will always be welcome here. I only try to keep you two from crossing paths when he is here because I know you don’t like him. And thirdly, he offered to fix the rafters where as all you do is put it off!”

Mark opened and closed his mouth a few times, to stunned for words.

“That’s my little sister,” Steve said with a smile.

Mary took a calming breath and turned back to Danny. “Can you please take the handcuffs off of my brother, Detective?”

Danny nodded and began to undo the cuffs.

“We’re sorry we had to pull you away from work Mrs. Adams, especially for a misunderstanding such as this, but there have been some break-ins lately and the security company found it suspicious when you didn’t answer your home phone or your cell.” Kono told her.

“I had my cell phone turned on silent during class. I didn’t get your message until my break,” Mary explained. “And it’s quite alright, better safe than sorry.”

Kono nodded. “Yes ma’am, it is.”

As Danny and his team walked down the drive, Steve rubbed his wrists and watched Danny, admiring the view. “See you around Detective.”

“Let’s hope not.”

Mary frowned, pulling her brother inside the house. “You just can’t resist, can you?”

Steve grinned. “I really can’t.”


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of Danny’s week seemed to go fairly smoothly. Max had found some evidence that had been previously overlooked – a blink and you miss it sort of thing – and pieces began to fall into place after that. They were able to catch the man who had murdered the Governor’s friend, as well as two other women, before he had a chance to hurt anyone else.

The Governor was, of course, very pleased with their work and more than a little relieved that her friend’s killer was now behind bars. However, she wasted no time in giving them another assignment. The Bank of Hawaii main branch had been robbed. Apparently it had happened sometime between when they had opened that morning and the end of the day, but no one had seen anything or noticed anyone suspicious. No one had even realized that there had been a robbery until the bank manager had gone to seal the vault for the night.

When they arrived at the bank, they found that HPD had already locked down the area and was questioning all the employees. The bank manager was standing in the middle of the lobby, looking exceedingly calm.

“Wo Fat?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Detective Danny Williams, Five-0.” He shook hands with the man.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Detective. I’ve been standing here asking myself how this could have happened without my people noticing a robbery, especially one of such magnitude, happening. Our security system is brand new, state of the art; it’s only two months old. Even if my employees didn’t notice the robbery in progress, the system should have!”

“So you weren’t here when the robbery happened?” Danny asked.

“No, I was out playing golf with friends. I left my assistant manager in charge. She was the one who realized that there had been a robbery.”

“Alright. We’re going to do our absolute best to figure out what happened and to recover the money.”

Wo Fat nodded. “It’s not just the money, Detective. The safety deposit boxes were cleaned out too. Ever since the local news broke the story, the phone has been ringing off the hook with people wondering where their family heirlooms and passports are.”

Danny nodded. “Well, the first thing we’re going to need is all of the surveillance footage. I don’t care if it’s a camera pointed at a bathroom, we need the tapes.”

“Of course, anything you need.”

 

Once they finished collecting evidence, Danny assured Wo Fat that they would try to solve the robbery as quickly as possible. He asked that if anyone thought of anything that might be useful, to please call them.

As they walked to their cars, Danny noticed a familiar face in the crowd of onlookers and sighed heavily.

“Everything okay boss?” Chin asked.

“Most likely not. McGarrett’s here.”

Chin and Kono both scanned the crowd for him. “Bank robberies aren’t his style.”

“And yet there he is.” Danny rubbed his fingers over his jaw, trying to decide what to do. “I can’t just ignore this… there are some criminals who return to the scene of the crime as an onlooker.”

Chin nodded. “Part of the job, but I’m just saying, I really don’t think he had anything to do with this.”

“Much as I hate to admit it, neither do I.” With another sigh, Danny walked over to Steve. “What is it with you? Huh? You’re like a disease; just when I think I’m rid of you, you show back up, in places you shouldn’t be, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

Steve smirked. “If I leave a taste in your mouth, I assure you, it won’t be bad.”

Danny opened his mouth to retort but quickly closed it again, clenching his teeth, thinking better of it. It seemed like everything he said, Steve had an equally snappy and smart remark to counter with. “You should leave, you have no business here.”

“Last I checked, it was a free country and so long as I’m on this side of the crime scene tape, I have just as much right to be here as any one of these other people,” Steve said smugly, motioning to the rest of the onlookers.

“Maybe, but one – they don’t annoy me like you do and two – I have no reason to suspect that any one of them had anything to do with this robbery, unlike you.”

Steve arched a brow. “You suspect me?”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, there are statistics saying that some criminals, especially arrogant ones, return to the scene to watch as it’s being processed. And, you are both a known criminal and arrogant, not to mention that you’re miles from home for no good reason that I can see. So… why not?”

“Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“It took one look at you, threw up it’s hands and said ‘I’ve got nothing’.”

Steve chuckled. “Be that as it may, I had nothing to do with this.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Steve looked at Chin and Kono and waved. “Hey Chin, Kono.”

“Steve! Howsit brah?” Chin asked with a cheerful smile as he headed towards him.

“Pretty good,” Steve said with an equally bright smile, giving Kono a brief hug. “Or at least it was until Danny here informed me that I was a suspect just because I happen to be standing here.”

“It’s Detective Williams to you.”

An especially mischievous sparkle in Steve’s eye was the only response that Danny received. It was a defiant sparkle, one that sent a shiver down Danny’s spine for no good reason.

“You’re just the poster child for ‘wrong place, wrong time’ aren’t you?” Kono said with a chuckle.

“Apparently.”

“Don’t worry about it brah, no one really thinks it was you.” Danny shot Chin a look. Chin had the decency to give Danny a sheepish look. “I’d better get back to work. Beers later? We’ll catch up.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Chin and Kono waved goodbye as they headed to Kono’s car.

Danny emitted something that sounded suspiciously like a low growl to Steve. “Alright, get out of here before I arrest you for loitering.”

“You’d just love to arrest me again, wouldn’t you _Detective_? You’d get off on it, wouldn’t you?” Steve asked with a flirty smirk.

“I think you’re confused because it’s your thing to get off on being arrested.”

“True. But I saw how giddy it made you when you arrested me last time.”

“Because I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore.”

“I had no idea that I had such an effect on you.”

“You don’t.”

“Okay, you keep telling yourself that.”

Danny glared at him for a moment before smiling. “I need an officer over here!” he yelled. A young officer jogged over. “Escort this man from the premises… if he resists, shoot him.”

The officer’s eyes widened; it was obvious that he was fairly new and was one that didn’t want to disobey an order but couldn’t yet discern a serious order from an empty threat. After a moment of thought, he nodded, ducked under the crime scene tape and took hold of Steve’s arm to lead him away. “Come with me, please, sir.”

“Always a pleasure to see you Danny,” Steve practically purred as he was lead away.

“Detective Williams! And the feeling’s not mutual.”


	5. Chapter 5

Danny leaned back in his desk chair and sighed. He’d had to give up a weekend with Grace to work this bank robbery case and they still had no leads. Chin had gone over the surveillance footage again and again and hadn’t found a single trace of anything suspicious. The fingerprints that had been collected were frustrating at best to go through; after all, it was a public place that saw a lot of foot traffic every day. In the end though, it seemed that there were no unidentified or out of place fingerprints in the vault.

Kono had already gone home at lunch due to eye strain after matching all those prints with bank employees and the owners of the various safety deposit boxes and a general lack of sleep. Chin was still toughing it out, but looked like he was getting ready to call it quits for the day.

Danny grabbed his cell phone and stared at the screen which informed him that he had several new voicemail messages. He’d been dodging calls from the governor and Wo Fat all day. Both wanted progress reports and he had nothing for them.

Most of his voicemails were from either the governor or Wo Fat, but one was from Rachel.

“ _Danny, it’s Rachel. I was hoping that you could pick Grace up from her friend’s house this evening and perhaps she could stay with you tonight? I know that you’re very busy with that bank robbery, but Grace missed her weekend with you terribly… and Stan and I have dinner reservations. Give me a call back when you can_.”

Danny dialed her number.

“ _Hello_?”

“Rachel, it’s Danny.”

“ _Danny… you sound tired_.”

“I am, but I’ll pick up Grace from her friend’s house. It’d be nice to spend some time with her. What’s the address?”

“ _2727 Piikoi Street_.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later.”

“ _Okay. Danny… get some rest_.”

“I will.” Danny hung up the phone and stared at the address. Why did that look familiar?

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

When Danny arrived at the address Rachel had given him, he realized why it had seemed familiar. It was Mary Ann Adams’, Steve McGarrett’s sister, address; he recognized the house. Great. Hopefully Mark was home and Steve wasn’t.

Danny grabbed his keys and slid out of the car. As he made his way up the steps, he realized just how tired he really was; his feet felt like they weighed a ton. He knocked on the door and waited.

Mary answered the door with a smile. “Detective Williams, what can I do for you? My brother isn’t in any trouble, is he?”

Danny chuckled. “Not that I’m aware of. Actually, I’m here for Grace; I’m her father. Is she ready?”

“Oh, right. Rachel said that her father would be picking her up, I just thought she meant…” Mary shifted, thinking better of finishing her sentence. “Well, actually, the kids are still working on their project for school. Come on in, they shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Alright, thank you.” Danny stepped past her and waited for her to shut the door and show him the way to where the kids were.

“Danno!” Grace exclaimed as soon as she laid eyes on him. She dropped the marker that she had been holding and ran to give him a hug. “I missed you daddy.”

Danny knelt down so that he was eye level with her. “I know Monkey, I missed you too.”

“Mommy said you were trying to catch some bank robbers.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you get them?”

“Not yet Monkey.”

Grace frowned. “Oh. Well, you will. Do you want to see our project?”

Danny smiled. “I would love nothing more than to see it.”

Grace took Danny’s hand and led him over to the coffee table where Jack was sitting, coloring. “We’re doing a report on volcanoes. Me and Jack are drawing pictures of volcanoes to go along with the written part.”

“Wow. Well those are absolutely, hands down the best drawings I’ve ever seen of volcanoes.”

Grace beamed.

“Hey _Danno_ ,” Steve said, emerging from the kitchen.

Danny closed his eyes. Why did _he_ have to be here? Danny stood. “Only Gracie gets to call me Danno.”

“It’s alright, Uncle Steve can call you Danno too if he wants,” Grace said with an innocent, completely oblivious smile.

Steve smiled. “See, it’s okay Danno.”

Danny could have sworn that he felt something explode in his head. “ _Uncle_ Steve huh?”

“Yeah, we’ve been having tons of fun learning all about volcanoes. And Gracie has told me so much about you and how you catch bad guys.”

Yep, something definitely exploded in his head that time. The worst part was how innocent Steve made it all sound. Hell, for the most part it probably was. Gracie loved to tell people about him; all it took was a “so I hear your daddy is a detective” to get her started and getting her stopped was a hell of a lot harder. But Danny knew that Steve had probably asked at least a few pointed questions.

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. Gracie is very proud of you,” he said earnestly.

“Well I am very proud of her,” Danny said, giving his daughter another hug.

“I bet. She is a very smart and nice young lady and a very talented artist.”

Grace smiled at him.

“Would you like something to drink, Detective?” Mary asked. “I just made some iced tea.”

“It’s really good,” Steve assured him.

“Please, call me Danny. And sure, I’ll take a glass.”

“Alright, I will be right back.”

“So, Danno, figure out who robbed the bank yet?” Steve asked once Mary had left the room.

“No, not yet.” He wanted to say more, but he wouldn’t say it in front of the kids.

“I was thinking about it… when I was young, I remember my dad saying that there had been a bank robbery. It was essentially the exact same case as this... it was robbed in broad daylight, during business hours, and no one saw anything. Of course the security wasn’t as good then as it is now and people were far more trusting. As far as I know though, it was never solved.”

Danny arched a brow. Was he really that arrogant? “When you were young?”

Steve smiled. “I know what you’re thinking… I was too young, probably around Grace and Jack’s age. But I’m thinking that the two cases might be related.”

“I suppose that could be, but I don’t see how that’s any help if that case was never solved.”

“My dad worked the case. He said he had a suspect, one of the bank employees.”

“Well, whoever it was must have been cleared if the case was never solved.” Mary returned with Danny’s glass of iced tea. “Thank you Mary.”

“He was. He wasn’t even at the bank at the time and had several alibis. Dad didn’t really buy it though. It wasn’t long after that that our mom died. Dad took some time off after that, so all of his cases were handed off to other officers and he never got to pursue it any further.”

“It always bothered him though,” Mary said thoughtfully.

Steve nodded. “Yeah. He always said he thought it was an inside job… everyone thought it was an inside job, but no one could ever prove anything. There wasn’t any evidence.”

“And a few months after that, there was another bank robbery in the states just like it… a few more in the years after that, I remember seeing them on the news. Dad thought that the robbery here might have been a test to see how well their plan worked.”

Danny took a sip of his tea as he thought it over. “They do sound essentially the same.”

“The old case file should still be on record, there might be something in it that could help.”

“I’ll look into it. Tomorrow though. Tonight I need to spend some much needed time with my Monkey, followed by eight or more hours of sleep.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Morning boss,” Chin greeted.

“Morning,” Danny replied.

“Get some sleep?”

“Yeah. Not as much as I would’ve liked, but I had to take Grace to school,” he said distractedly. “Hey, where’s Kono?”

Kono came out of her office to join them. “Right here. What’s up?”

“I need you to pull an old case file. Apparently there was another robbery almost exactly like this one a couple of decades ago. I want to compare them, see if they might be related.”

Chin frowned slightly. “How’d you find out about that?”

Danny cleared his throat and headed towards his office. “McGarrett,” he mumbled, covering it with a cough.

“Did I just hear you say McGarrett?”

Danny stopped and rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, McGarrett told me about it. His father worked the case back in the day.”

Chin tried to suppress a grin. “So you saw him again?”

“Yeah, he was at his sister’s house when I went to pick up Grace. Grace and McGarrett’s sister’s little boy Jack were working on a school project together.” Danny watched as Chin’s grin widened. “Oh come on… what? What are you grinning about?”

“Nothing.”

“That grin is not nothing. Come on, out with it.”

“I just knew that Steve would win you over eventually.”

“He has not won me over,” Danny insisted, enunciating each word to make sure make himself clear. “Grace, Grace is a different story. All I heard all evening is how cool _Uncle_ Steve is. She wants to invite him to the beach this weekend!”

“ _Uncle_ Steve?” Kono said, grinning.

“Yeah, can you believe that?!”

“You can’t help but to love Steve.”

“Excuse me; I am an exception to that. I do not like him even a little bit.”

Chin and Kono exchanged a skeptical look.

“Oh, don’t give each other that look. I _do not_ in any way, shape or form like the guy. Now get back to work.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Shortly after lunchtime, Chin poked his head into Danny’s office. “Hey boss, Kono’s got that file you wanted.”

“Excellent.” Danny stood from his desk and made his way to the computer table. “Whoa, Kono, what happened to you?”

Kono was covered from head to toe in dust and had a couple of cobwebs stuck to her shirt and ponytail. “That file you wanted, it wasn’t in the system. I had to go down to the records department and look for it in the archives.”

“Isn’t there someone down there that retrieves the files?”

“There is, but only if you want to be put on a waiting list,” Kono explained, dusting herself off a little. “And apparently the wait is at least a week long. I didn’t figure you wanted to wait that long to get it.”

“No, not really.”

“Just promise me I won’t always be the rookie that gets the crap jobs.”

Danny smiled. “I make no promises, but if we get another team member, you have my permission to give the crap jobs to them.”

Kono sighed. “Not the promise I hoped for, but I guess I’ll take it.”

“Have you looked through the file yet?”

“Yeah, and there’s something that you should see.” Kono flipped the file open, sending a cloud of dust across the top of the computer table. Chin winced. “As I was looking through it to make sure I had the right one, I noticed a list of the employees that worked at the bank that was robbed and one jumped out at me.” She pointed to a name.

“Wo Fat,” Chin read. “Isn’t he…”

“The bank manager,” Danny confirmed.

“Back then, he was just a bank teller.”

Danny shook his head after a moment of thought. “McGarrett said that his dad always thought that it was an inside job. He also said that his father had a suspect, but the suspect was cleared because he wasn’t even at the bank that day and he had alibis.”

“What are you thinking?” Chin asked as Kono began searching through the file for mention of the suspect.

“One of the first things Wo Fat told me was that he was out playing golf that day with friends. Now that I think on it, it was almost like he was trying to make sure that I knew it couldn’t have been him.”

“Wo Fat was Steve’s dad’s suspect,” Kono informed them.

Chin frowned. “So what now?”

“Well, right now we’re just running on theories. If we go back and question Wo Fat some more, he may get suspicious and take off before we have the chance to get anything solid on him.”

“So…?”

“So I guess I have to pay McGarrett a visit, see if he remembers anything more, specifically about Wo Fat.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

As Danny drove up in front of the address that Mary Ann Adams had given him, he noticed the curtain on one of the windows move. He got out of the car and headed towards the trailer.

“Danno! To what do I owe this visit? Business or pleasure?” Steve asked as opened the door of his trailer wide and leaned against the door frame. “I’m really hoping pleasure.”

“You live in a giant, shiny tin can,” Danny said distractedly as he looked over the trailer.

Steve smiled. “At least it’s shiny.”

“So we’re going to pretend I don’t know that there is still a very sizable chunk of change from your cons that is still unaccounted for?” Steve showed no sign of answering. “All I’m saying is, I know you could have afforded something without wheels.”

“I could have.”

“So why didn’t you? My apartment is better than this can.”

“Is it? Maybe I should stop by some time, see what I’m missing.”

“That was by no means an invitation.”

“It sounded like one.”

“Well it wasn’t.”

“Okay. Well I guess that brings us back to my initial question, what brings you to my little tin can?”

“Wo Fat. What do you know about him? Or, more importantly, what did your dad know about him?”

“He was the suspect my dad had in his bank robbery case?”

“Yeah.”

“Dad never mentioned a name,” Steve said. He backed away from the door into his trailer.

Danny was having a difficult time hearing Steve so he moved to the door. Steve was now lounging on what passed for a couch.

“Come on in Danno, you’re letting all of my cool air out.” Steve watched as Danny hesitated, amused. “I won’t bite… unless you want me to. I promise.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Danny said as he climbed the steps and pulled the door closed behind him. He was surprised by what he found inside the trailer; while the outside looked like a tin can, the inside was far nicer than his apartment. He would never admit that though.

Directly across from where Steve was lounging was a large plasma screen TV that took up most of the wall. On the kitchen counter sat a very expensive espresso and coffee maker. The carpet, tile and the fabric covering the cushions on the seats were definitely not standard to this, or any, type of trailer. And, in the corner, sat a very nice potted palm. Danny didn’t have a plant of any kind in his apartment.

“You stick all this nice stuff in a _trailer_? What’s wrong with you?” Danny shook his head. “Never mind, stupid question… just tell me what you know about Wo Fat.”

“Not much. I heard that he was in the Yakuza, but as far as I know, that was just a rumor.”

“This was back at the time of the bank robbery?”

“No, it was several years after that, but if it’s true, it wouldn’t surprise me. I also heard that his father was Yakuza… pretty far up the ladder too. He was shot to death in his home and everyone said that it was the Samoans that killed him.” Steve took a sip of his beer. “If his dad was Yakuza, he was born into it.”

Danny nodded thoughtfully. “Bank robberies aren’t really the Yakuza’s style though.”

“Maybe Wo Fat was trying to make a name for himself. Build his own empire or whatever. Wouldn’t be the first time a lowly member had delusions of grandeur.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“And as far as getting some quick cash, bank robberies top the list.”

“Have you ever robbed a bank for some quick cash McGarrett?” Danny asked, seeing his opportunity to ask some pointed questions of his own.

Steve smiled. “I have not, Danno. Have you?” Danny narrowed his eyes at Steve and stood. “Oh come on Danno, I was just kidding. No need to leave in a huff.”

“I am leaving, but not in a huff. You don’t get under my skin nearly as much as you think you do.”

“Don’t I?” Steve asked with a smirk.

“You don’t.”

“C’mon, stay and have a beer.”

“I’m on duty and I have some digging to do on Wo Fat.”

“I never said that was all I knew about Wo Fat.”

Danny paused at the door. “You know something else?”

“No, but you usually ask.”

“Goodbye McGarrett.”

Steve stood and crossed to the door. “Oh come on Danno…”

“Stop calling me Danno, only my daughter gets to call me that.”


	7. Chapter 7

Danny awoke with a start. The phone rang. He grabbed his phone from the side table and answered it without bothering to look to see who it was. “Hello?”

“ _Hey Danno_.”

“Steve?” Danny asked, his sleep addled brain barely registering the voice. “Why the hell are you calling me at…” Danny checked the clock, “three o’clock in the morning. How’d you even get my number?”

“ _I told them that I really needed to call Detective Williams and one of the officers happened to know your number_ ,” Steve said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Danny sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eye with his free hand. “Told who? Steve, what the hell is going on?”

“ _I’m in jail Danny_.”

“What?!” Wait, why was Danny surprised by this? “Never mind, scratch that… I shouldn’t be a bit surprised. I knew this would happen sooner or later, I just had no idea I’d be your one phone call. Why am I your one phone call? Shouldn’t you be calling your sister to bail you out or a lawyer or something?”

“ _This concerns you_.”

“Why in the world would it concern me? I put guys like you in jail all the time, I don’t bail them out.”

“ _Danno, I’m on a payphone here. Can you just shut up and listen before I run out of time_?”

“Alright.”

“ _I was arrested for trespassing… on Wo Fat’s property_.”

Danny ran a hand over his face. “Damnit Steve! Why would you do a stupid thing like that?”

“ _I was trying to help and…” Steve paused for a moment. “I’m almost out of time. Can you please just come down here so that we can talk_?”

“I’m not bailing you out.”

“ _I’m not asking you to_.”

Danny thought it over for a moment. “Alright, fine. I’ll be down there as soon as I can.”

Steve’s smile was almost perceptible over the phone. “ _Thank you Danny_.”

Danny hung up the phone, threw his covers back and slid out of bed. “I must be insane, going down to the jail at three in the morning to talk to a guy I hate,” he mumbled as he made his way to the bathroom.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“Detective Williams, what are you doing here so early in the morning?” the desk sergeant on duty asked cheerfully.

Danny stared at him for a moment, deciding he was far too upbeat for this hour of the night. “I’m here to see a prisoner that was recently brought in. Steve McGarrett.”

The sergeant typed Steve’s name into the computer. “Oh, yes, the guy who broke into Mister Wo Fat’s house.”

Danny arched a brow. “Broke in? He told me he was arrested for trespassing.”

The sergeant smiled. “Yeah, there was a little confusion as to which it was. McGarrett said that he was invited in and then Mister Wo Fat suddenly reneged on his invitation, but Mister Wo Fat said that he broke in. A window was broken, but McGarrett said that Mister Wo Fat did that to frame him.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose; it was way too early for this shit. “Okay, well, can I see him?”

“Sure! I’ll buzz you in,” he said, even as he pushed the button. “Just tell Lao you want to see McGarrett and he’ll tell you how to get to his cell.”

“Lao, right,” Danny said as he walked to the door. “Try decaf… just a thought.”

The sergeant frowned after him.

“You Lao?” Danny asked when he reached the first desk after the door.

“Yeah, can I help you?”

“I need to see Steve McGarrett.”

“Oh, you’re McGarrett’s handler?” Lao said with a huge smile.

“Handler…?”

“He’s good people. You got lucky; most CIs aren’t cool like him.”

“CI? He told you he was my confidential informant?” Danny asked.

Lao shrugged. “He said he had information for you.”

“Oh,” Danny said as he signed in and handed over his gun. “He is most definitely not my CI. I would rather have a hole in the head than have him as my CI!”

“What you got against McG?” Lao ask as though he took personal offence.

“McG? Okay, well, for starters, _McG_ is a con man. You _never_ trust a con man. Not for any reason. Not even for a second. And secondly, everything about the man rubs me the wrong way. Give it time, I guarantee he’ll wear on you.”

Lao gave him a look that clearly said that he didn’t believe him. “Whatever. McGarrett is just down the hall and to the left, third cell down.”

“Thanks.”

Danny made his way down the hall to Steve’s cell and found him lying on his cot, arm draped over his eyes, asleep. “Wake up!” he said loudly.

Steve quickly moved his arm and was half way up before he realized who it was. “Danny…”

“I’m glad one of us was able to get some sleep. And if anyone, it should obviously be you seeing as how you don’t have a job or anything that you have to get up for in a few hours,” he said, beyond annoyed.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I never meant for this to happen…”

“No, of course not. You never _mean_ to get caught, do you?”

“Danny…”

“Do you ever stop lying?” Danny asked. He was glad that there was a set of bars between them, because between being woken up in the middle of the night and his general dislike for Steve, he might end up in the cell next to this one were those bars not there.

“What?” Steve asked, the slightest hint of hurt in his voice.

Danny rubbed his hands over his face, willing himself to calm down. “You told me that you were arrested for trespassing but the officer out there said that they arrested you for breaking and entering.”

Steve stood and crossed the cell so that he was standing directly in front of Danny. “Danny, I swear on my sister and nephew’s lives that I did not break into Wo Fat’s house. I did go there, yes, but I was invited inside,” Steve said seriously. “I may have misled him to believe that I was someone that I wasn’t so that I could get inside his house and look around, but that was it. He caught me in his study, didn’t believe that I was admiring his desk and he called the cops.”

“And the broken window?”

“After he gave me a little bit of a beating,” he motioned to his lip, which was busted, and his eye which had the slightest shade of purple around it, “he had one of his guys break the window to make it look like I had broken in.”

Danny wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep, his suspicion of Wo Fat’s involvement in the bank robbery or the injuries to Steve’s face, but he found himself believing Steve’s story. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him of his earlier words, _‘you never trust a con man. Not for any reason. Not even for a second.’_ But, on this occasion, he did. “Okay, but why did you go over there and start snooping around hours after you tell me that he may be Yakuza? In the history of bone headed moves, that is pretty far up there. Most Yakuza find someone snooping around, they do not call the cops! They kill you and dump your body where it will never, ever be found!”

Steve looked at his feet at kicked at a crack in the cement. “I know, I just…”

“You just what?”

“I just wanted to help you out, that’s all.”

Danny was more than a little taken aback by that. Out of all the possible reasons Danny could think of that Steve might give him, never in a million years would he have guessed that one. “Well, your intentions were good, I guess I’ve got to give you that.”

Steve smiled. “And my efforts weren’t all for nothing. Before I was caught, I found something. Several things actually.”

Danny’s eyes widened. “You did?”

“Yeah. Wo Fat has the plans to the bank in his study.”

“While suspicious, that doesn’t really prove anything since he’s the bank manager. There are several reasons why he might have them.”

“They were all marked up. Paths, the target area, the locations of the security cameras; it was all marked on the floor plans. He also had a stack of DVD’s by his computer. They were all labeled ‘BANK’. Oh, and did I forget to mention the huge, state-of-the-art floor safe? No one would have a safe like that to guard their passport and spare cash.”

“What about top secret Yakuza stuff?”

“Danny, I’m talking something more secure than the vault at his bank.”

“Okay, probably not then. Wo Fat’s probably already destroyed the floor plans and the tapes though, just to be sure. And we’d have to have a warrant to search his house, which requires at least some evidence which leads to probable cause.”

“What about your full means and immunity?”

“We still have to have probable cause; we can’t just go kicking down doors and tearing up floors when we feel like it. If we went in with no justifiable reason to, even if we found every last thing that was taken from the bank, the whole case could be thrown out in court because we didn’t have a warrant or a valid reason to perform a search.”

“I could go back in and then you could break down the door to save me from being murdered… do a little searching while you’re there,” Steve suggested with a grin.

Danny stared at him in disbelief. “Do I have to give you the boneheaded speech again? Going into a place not realizing what you’re stepping into is one thing, volunteering to go in with full knowledge that you might be murdered before help could arrive is a whole new level of crazy McGarrett!”

“I trust you to save me before it comes to that.”

“Well it won’t because you’re not going to do it, you hear me? I will lock you in the basement of Five-0 headquarters if I so much as get the feeling that you might try something stupid.”

Steve smirked. “Kinky.”

“Oh don’t start, it’s too early for your flirting. Speaking of which, I am going to go back home and try to get a little more sleep before I have to get up for work.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “You’re just going to leave me in here?”

Danny grinned. “Yes, yes I am.” Steve pouted. “Look, I will see what I can do about getting you released in the morning, okay? That’s the best that I can do.”

“Fine,” Steve said with a sigh as he watched Danny walk away. “Hey Danno?”

“Yeah?”

“Good night. And thanks.”

Danny smiled. “Good night Steven.”


	8. Chapter 8

On his way to work, after stopping for a much needed cup of coffee, Danny called the governor.

“ _Governor Jameson’s office_.”

“Yes, this is Detective Danny Williams, Five-0; I need to speak to the governor.”

“ _One moment please_.”

“ _Good morning Detective Williams, what can I do for you_?” the governor asked after a moment.

“Well, ma’am, I need to ask a favor.”

“ _Oh? What kind of favor_?”

Danny bit his lip, he hated asking this. “Early this morning, a man named Steve McGarrett was arrested. I was hoping that you would make a call and have him released.”

“ _Is this McGarrett a friend of yours_?”

Danny chuckled a little. “No ma’am, not by any means. But in a misguided attempt to find some evidence for me on the bank robbery case, he was arrested for breaking and entering.”

“ _You asked him to do this_?”

“No ma’am, I would never do that. When I went to pick my daughter up from her friend’s house, McGarrett was there. He mentioned that his father worked on a similar case a couple decades ago. I pulled the file and the cases are almost identical. In fact, the only suspect that they ever had in that case actually works in the bank that was just robbed.”

“ _Really? So you have a suspect then_?”

“Maybe. But as of right now, we have no evidence. That’s why I went to talk to McGarrett again, to see if he could remember anything more; anything that his father might have said in relation to the case. He didn’t really know much more other than that the suspect was rumored to be Yakuza.”

“ _Who is this suspect_?”

“His name is Wo Fat. He’s the bank manager.”

“ _So it is likely an inside job after all_?”

“Yes ma’am. Almost definitely.”

“ _I still don’t see how this lead to McGarrett being arrested for breaking and entering_.”

“He was trying to find evidence to prove that it was Wo Fat, which he says he did. He claims that he didn’t break and enter though, that he was invited in and that it was only after he was caught snooping in Wo Fat’s study that the police were called.”

“ _Invited? Why would Wo Fat invite him in_?”

Danny grimaced; he was hoping that she wouldn’t ask that question. “McGarrett is a con man.”

“ _I see_.”

“Look, governor, I know how this sounds, but I’m inclined to believe him. And he was just trying to help me out.”

“ _Why would he do that_?”

Danny sighed. “Because despite it all, he’s actually an okay guy. Far too mischievous for his own good, and he annoys the hell out of me, but a good guy at heart. I would never admit that to his face of course, but it’s the truth.”

“ _Alright Detective Williams, I’ll make the call_.”

“Thank you governor.”

“ _You said that McGarrett found evidence of Wo Fat’s involvement before he was arrested_?”

“Yes ma’am. He said that he found floor plans to the bank with markings on them indicating security camera placement, the vault and paths to it as well as DVDs labeled ‘BANK’, most likely security footage. He also said that Wo Fat has a large floor safe, one that would rival the vault’s security.”

The governor sighed as she thought this over. “ _You’ll need more than the word of a con man, however good of a guy he is, to search his house_.”

“Yes ma’am, I’m well aware of that. We’ll try to find another angle.”

“ _Good. I’ll make some calls, see if I can find out anything useful about Wo Fat_.”

“Thank you governor.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

It had only been a couple of hours since Danny’s conversation with the governor when Steve arrived at Five-0 headquarters.

“Steve, brah, what are you doing here?” Chin asked with a smile upon noticing Steve.

“I was told to come here,” Steve said, giving Chin a brief hug.

“Who told you to come here?” Danny asked.

“Lao did, he said it was a condition of my release.” Steve smiled. “Thanks for that by the way.”

“Release? You were in prison?”

“Yeah, he got arrested for snooping around for evidence in Wo Fat’s house.” Both Chin and Kono gave him a look. “Don’t look at me, that was all his insane idea!”

“It was… I just wanted to help.”

Kono placed her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you tell us about this Danny?”

Danny poked at a stack of papers nearby, anything to keep from making eye contact. “I was going to… eventually.”

Chin grinned. “How’d you manage to get him released?”

“I might have mentioned it to the governor when I called her this morning. Speaking of which, I should probably call her and find out why McGarrett is here.”

Steve, Chin and Kono exchanged knowing looks and impossibly wide grins.

Danny once again dialed the governor’s office and asked to speak with her. “Governor, Steve McGarrett is here at Five-0 headquarters. He said that he was told to report here as a condition of his release.”

“ _That’s right Detective_.”

“May I ask why?”

“ _I’m making him your CI_.”

Danny went slack-jawed and turned away from the group. “Why?”

“ _He’s proven useful in the bank robbery case_.”

“Yes, but he’s blown. Wo Fat already knows his face… I really don’t see how he could be of any further use.”

“ _Wo Fat knows that he was snooping, but not why. It may yet still be possible to insert him into Wo Fat’s operation. It may be our only way of getting anything usable on Wo Fat_.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“ _Send him on coffee runs, have him wash your car, whatever you can find for him to do. He will work in whatever capacity necessary until he has worked enough hours to have earned his release_.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “And how many hours does that come to?”

The governor chuckled. “ _I haven’t decided yet_.” With that, she hung up.

“Well?” Steve asked as Danny put his cell phone back in his pocket.

Danny felt the need to sit down for this. “The condition of your release is that you become my CI. You’ll try to get back in Wo Fat’s good graces, attempt to insert yourself into his operation and find something for us to use against him.”

Steve smirked. “I can do that.”

“What if Wo Fat refuses to give him a chance?” Chin asked.

“Then we have ourselves a glorified errand boy.”

Kono emitted what could only be described as a high-pitched squeal. They all looked at her. “I’m no longer the rookie anymore!” she exclaimed.

“I’m very happy for you,” Danny said, sounding anything but happy.

“On come on, cheer up Danno,” Steve said, bending over to throw an arm around his shoulders. “It’ll be great working together.”

“Yeah, just like having a hole in the head.”


	9. Chapter 9

A week had passed since the governor had made Steve Danny’s CI. Since then, Steve had managed to somehow not only talk his way back into Wo Fat’s good graces, but had also been brought in on another bank robbery. Even though Danny knew just how persuasive Steve could be, he still had a hard time believing that it had been so easy.

“You’ve got that look again,” Steve said as he sat a fresh, hot cup of coffee on Danny’s desk. He sat down on the couch in Danny’s office and sipped on his own cup of coffee.

“What look?” Danny asked, pulling the cup towards him.

“That ‘Steve getting in with Wo Fat was just too easy’ look.”

“Well it is.”

“Not everything has to be an uphill battle.”

“I know, Steve, but I… I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing.”

Steve smiled. “Aww, you’re worried about me.”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am,” Danny said seriously.

Steve was slightly taken aback by Danny’s admittance to this. “Danny, I’m going to be fine. Wo Fat will pull off this next robbery, none the wiser that you and half of HPD will be lying in wait. He’ll go to jail, we’ll celebrate with a few drinks, maybe go back to my place…”

“Steve,” Danny said warningly, giving him a look.

Steve chuckled. “What? A guy can dream.”

“No, you can’t. Now get out of my office and go do something useful.”

“I could be useful in here,” Steve said suggestively.

“I will give you déjà vu and send you back to jail for soliciting an officer of the law… that’ll make three strikes for you, won’t it?”

“Alright, I’m going. Geez, you don’t have to be mean about it.” Steve stood and left.

Danny watched Steve go with a stern face. Once he was out of sight though, his expression returned to one of worry.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

It was shortly after one in the morning when Danny received the call. When he answered, he half expected it to be Steve again, calling to say that he’d landed himself in jail once more. It wasn’t. It was HPD calling to inform him that they had received a call about a trailer on fire. One of the officers who knew of Steve’s CI status had recognized the address.

“What about Steve, is he okay?” Danny asked urgently.

“ _We don’t know_.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?! How can you not know?!” Danny yelled at him.

“ _He isn’t among the onlookers, but his truck is still here. It’s also on fire. The fire department is still battling the flames, but once they’re extinguished, they’ll begin searching for a body_.”

“Okay,” was all that he managed to say before he dropped his phone. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Danny wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting in the dark before reality came back to him, but he realized that he needed to call Chin and Kono. He dialed Chin’s number.

“ _Hey boss, what’s going on_?” Chin asked sleepily. “ _Boss_?”

“Steve is…. Steve is missing,” Danny said after a few moments of silence.

“ _What?! What happened_?!”

“His truck and trailer are on fire. There’s no sign of him. The fire department is going to start looking for a body as soon as they get the flames extinguished,” Danny told him. His voice was blank, lifeless.

“ _Oh my God_.”

“I… I need to call Kono and then I need to get over there.” Danny slid out of bed and immediately began searching for clothes to wear.

“ _Don’t worry about calling Kono, I’ll do it and we’ll meet you there_.”

“Alright.” He hung up and pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt and slipped on his shoes. He grabbed his car keys, wallet and badge off of the counter and headed to the door.

When Danny opened the door, he found Steve standing on the other side in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, covered in soot and smelling heavily of smoke. “Oh my God, Steve!”

“Danny…” Steve said blankly.

“Steve…”

“Danny, I…” Though he was looking directly at Danny, Steve still seemed to be searching for him.

“Steve, I’m right here,” Danny said, carefully placing his hands on Steve’s arms.

For the first time Steve seemed to realize he was there and focused on him, placing one hand on his face and the other on his shoulder. He was obviously in shock. “Danny, I… I think Wo Fat is trying to kill me,” he said before his legs gave way and he collapsed.

Danny caught him and carefully lowered him to the floor. “Steve, don’t you pass out on me, we need to get you to the hospital!”

“No, I’m fine. I just need to sit down for a minute.”

“Steve, you’re already laying down on my floor.”

Steve looked around before grinning goofily up at him. “Oh.”

Danny grabbed a blanket from his bed. “Come on, we need to get you to the hospital. Do you think you can sit up for me?”

“Anything for you.”

Danny was beginning to think that Steve wasn’t going to be able to sit up, but after a few moments he slowly began to rise. Danny wrapped his arm around Steve’s shoulders and helped him the rest of the way. He then wrapped the blanket around him. “Okay, now the big task, we need to get you up.”

“Okay.” Steve’s expression went from goofy to serious as he seemed to focus on the task at hand.

Danny crouched beside him and wrapped Steve’s arm around his neck and pulled him up. Steve seemed slightly unsteady, but all things considered, he was doing well. They slowly walked to Danny’s car and he helped Steve into the passenger seat and buckled him up.

“I love this car,” Steve mumbled as Danny slid behind the wheel. “We should have sex in it.”

Danny chuckled as he turned on the engine and backed out. “Unbelievable. You just escaped your burning trailer, somehow made it all the way here, you’re in shock and half out of your mind and your still trying to get me to have sex with you.”

“Well we should!” Steve said a little louder than necessary, his goofy smile returning. “And I’m perfectly fine, there’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Judging from the smell of you, you probably inhaled a fair amount of smoke. And in addition to that, you have several burns.”

“I do?” Steve asked, holding his arms out in front of him and looking them over. Both of his hands had burns on them. “Oh wow, I do.”

“Yeah, and the fact that you didn’t realize that proves that you’re nowhere near perfectly fine.”

“Oh look, there’s another one,” Steve said, pointing to his thigh.

“I need you to be quite for a few minutes, okay Steve? I need to call Chin and tell him you’re alive and call the hospital and tell them that we’re on the way.”

Steve frowned. “Chin thinks I’m dead?”

“Yeah, we all did.”

“Why?”

Danny threw him a worried glance as he dialed Chin’s number. “Because your trailer was on fire and you were nowhere to be found.”

“ _Danny, we’re at Steve’s trailer… or what little is left of it_ ,” Chin said.

“Hi Chin!” Steve said loudly.

“ _Is that…._?”

“Yeah, it’s Steve. I found him on my doorstep when I went to leave. He has a few burns, probably inhaled a lot of smoke and he’s in shock and goofy out of his mind, but he’s alive. We’re on our way to the hospital.”

“ _Thank God_ ,” Chin said, relieved. “ _We’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can_.”

“No, stay there until things die down. If any of Wo Fat’s men are there and they see you hurrying off to the hospital, they’ll know he’s still alive. I want to keep this quiet for as long as we possibly can.”

“ _Alright. How’d Steve get to your place anyways_?”

Danny looked at Steve. Steve shrugged. “He doesn’t remember, probably due to the shock.”

“ _Probably. We’ll see you at the hospital as soon as we can get away_.”

“Bye Chin!” Steve said.

Chin chuckled. “ _Bye Steve_.”

“Can we get doughnuts?” Steve asked once Chin had hung up.

“No Steve, we’re going to the hospital.”

“Why?” Steve asked earnestly.

Danny frowned. “I’d better have them check for a head injury.”


	10. Chapter 10

By the next day, Steve was much better. He had come back to his right mind, or as Danny joked, his version of a right mind, which couldn’t exactly be called right. He had sustained second degree burns to his hands, feet and a few other places on his body. Though he swore they didn’t hurt, he most definitely didn’t turn down the morphine drip. He also had to wear an oxygen mask for the smoke inhalation, which he did not like; the nurses, Danny, Chin and Kono were constantly putting it back on him.

Steve’s memory about what had happened and how he had gotten to Danny’s apartment also returned. He explained that when he had woken up, the trailer was already mostly engulfed. He couldn’t get to the front door, so he had crawled out of the window near his bed which was when he got the burns. From there, he had started running, though he didn’t remember much after that.

Danny spent most of his time by Steve’s bed. The governor had put Steve in Five-0’s protective custody, which Danny used as an excuse for his constant presence, but Danny knew he would have been right there regardless. He couldn’t pinpoint when exactly the flip had happened, when he’d gone from disliking even knowing of Steve’s existence to caring more than he’d ever admit, but it had.

Steve’s sister and her family were also under guard by HPD as a precaution. Mary wasn’t happy about having a shadow everywhere she went, but she understood. Ultimately, she was more worried about Steve than anything. Mark was a different story however. He was even less happy about it and he blamed Steve for the situation they were in.

 

When Steve was finally released from the hospital a few days later, it was late in the evening. Danny took him back to his apartment. They had decided that it was the safest place for him to stay.

“So, this is the place that you say is… was better than my trailer? At least before you got a look at the inside,” Steve said, amused, as they walked in.

Danny frowned. “At least it’s not on wheels.”

“It might as well be.”

“Watch it,” Danny warned. “I will put you outside.” It was an empty threat and they both knew it.

“You can’t do that without risking that someone might see me and alert Wo Fat.”

“There are plenty of bushes I can hide you in.”

Steve chuckled. “Well, this is much better than my place currently is.”

“Most definitely, especially considering I could fit your place in a coffee can should I choose to waste time sweeping up the ashes.”

“Such as shame,” Steve said as he hobbled to the couch and sat down. “What a waste of a beautiful plasma screen TV.”

“Can’t argue with you there,” Danny said as he dug Steve’s bottles of medicine out of his pocket. “Here, it’s about time for you to take these.”

“I’ll wait; the pain meds make me sleepy.”

“You need the rest. Besides, I was thinking of turning in early anyways.”

“I guess I’ll go ahead and take my pills then.” Danny got him a glass of water to take them with. “So, where am I sleeping?”

“You’re sitting on it.”

“The couch? I’m injured here,” Steve joked.

“Actually, that’s my bed.”

Steve arched a brow and stood so that Danny could pull out the bed. “Really? All this time in Hawaii and you don’t have a proper bed yet?”

“No, I don’t. Don’t start ragging on me for it either or you will be sleeping on the floor.”

Steve threw his hands up in mock surrender as Danny threw his pillows onto the bed. Steve pulled the scrub shirt that they had given him at the hospital to wear home over his head and tossed it on the arm of the sofa bed before slipping under the covers.

Danny grabbed a pair of sleep pants and went to the bathroom to change. When he returned, he grabbed an extra blanket and a pillow and tossed them on the floor.

Steve frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m solving world peace,” Danny said sarcastically. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

“On the floor?”

“It’s not like I have another sofa bed stashed somewhere…”

“What’s wrong with this one?”

Danny shrugged. “Nothing, I just…”

Steve smiled. “Come on Danno, the pain medication I took is going to have me solid out soon… it’s not like I’m going to molest you in your sleep. It’d be a little difficult with these bandages on my hands anyways.”

“Surprisingly, that never entered my mind. I just thought you would be more comfortable if you had the bed to yourself.”

“Vicodin is wonderful in that you could slap one of my burns while it’s in full effect and I probably wouldn’t even care. Now come on, there’s no sense in you sleeping on the floor when you don’t need to.”

“Alright.” Danny threw the extra blanket and pillow off to the side and slid under the covers with Steve. “Mind if I watch a little TV?”

“Go ahead.”

Danny turned on the TV and began flipping through the channels.

“Hey Danny?” Steve asked sleepily.

Danny looked over at him. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for… well, everything. I know I’ve been a real pain in the ass for you lately, but it’s only because I like you. And I want you to like me.”

“I do like you Steve,” Danny said earnestly.

Steve gave him a sad little smile. “No you don’t, I annoy you. I don’t mean to. I just… I come on to strong, but I just really want you to like me.”

“Yes, you do come on a little strong, and I won’t deny that you do annoy me sometimes, but I do like you. I guess it took me thinking that you might be dead to realize it, but…”

Steve rolled onto his side and pressed his lips to Danny’s. Danny was a little taken aback by this, but he returned the kiss once the shock of it passed. “I always knew we’d end up in bed together,” Steve said, grinning, once Danny broke the kiss.

Danny rolled his eyes but he was smiling broadly. “And he’s back.”

Steve kissed him again and ran a bandaged hand over Danny’s bare chest. “These bandages have got to go,” Steve mumbled against Danny’s lips.

Danny took Steve’s hand in his own. “They stay for now. This moment doesn’t need to be ruined by bursting blisters.”

“Fair enough."


	11. Chapter 11

Steve spent most of the next day sleeping on the couch in Danny’s office thanks to the vicodin. Danny was glad of this, not because Steve now tried to steal kisses every chance that he got, but because they still had no leads in either the bank robbery or Steve’s attempted murder. It upset Danny and, despite the state that he was currently in, Steve’s best solution for this was to offer to put himself in more danger so that they might catch someone connected to Wo Fat. This only served to upset Danny more.

Steve woke shortly before time to go home for the day. There was nothing new to speak of, so Danny decided to call it a day early and get Steve home before he offered to help again. Once they were home, Steve began rummaging through the refrigerator.

“You have absolutely nothing to eat in here,” Steve said as he pulled out two beers.

“I usually grab something to eat on the way home.” Danny grabbed both beers from Steve and gave him a stern look. “No beer while you’re on pain meds.”

Steve pouted. “I haven’t taken another vicodin yet…”

“Then take it, because I’m not letting you have a beer.”

“Alright, fine, but what are we going to eat?” Steve asked. He pressed himself against Danny as Danny returned the beers to the fridge. “Dessert’s covered, but we need something to give us plenty of energy for that.”

Danny chuckled. “I’ll order a pizza. What do you like?”

Steve smirked. “Well…”

“On your pizza,” Danny clarified.

“Ham and pineapple.”

Danny walked to the counter to get his phone. “Dessert is off.”

Steve frowned. “Why?”

“Because ham and pineapple pizza is an abomination. It doesn’t even deserve to be called pizza!”

Steve stood behind Danny, wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on Danny’s shoulder. “I bet I could change your mind on that,” he whispered.

A chill ran down Danny’s spine. Danny cleared his throat as the girl on the other end of the line picked up and asked for his order. “I need a large ham and pineapple pizza… and a large supreme.”

Steve grinned. He walked over and plopped down on the couch as Danny finished up with the pizza girl. He heard a click from beneath him and he froze. “Danny…” he said in a loud whisper.

“Yeah,” Danny asked with a smile as he hung up. He noticed that Steve’s face was white and he was tense. “Steve, what’s wrong?”

“Danny, I… I think I may have just sat on a bomb.”

Danny felt the color drain from his own face. “What?!”

“I heard a click… and it wasn’t the type of click a couch would ever make. And now I hear beeping.”

Danny hurried over to the couch and dropped to his knees in front of Steve. “Alright, Steve, I need you to very slowly, very carefully spread your legs.”

“Now hardly seems like the time for that,” Steve said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears.

“I need to look under the cushion to see what we’re dealing with here. Beeping usually means timer, but it could be attached to a pressure plate too.”

Steve nodded and carefully began to scoot his legs to either side. Once they were far enough apart, Danny carefully pulled the front of the cushion up so that he could see. He could see a red glow, but not what it was so he raised the cushion a little more. There was a timer, it was at forty-five seconds and counting.

“Alright, Steve,” Danny began calmly. He stood, ran to the door and opened it and returned to Steve. “I want you to take my hand… I’m going to pull you up and we’re going to run.”

Steve nodded and gripped his hand tightly. “Okay.”

“Now!” Danny yelled, pulling him up hard and running for the door, making sure to keep a tight grip on his hand.

They were outside, twenty feet from the door, when the bomb exploded. The force of the blast knocked them from their feet and sent them flying through the air. Danny landed painfully, his cheek scraping against the cement.

“Ow,” Steve groaned from a few feet away.

Danny slowly got to his hands and knees. “Steve! You alright?!”

“I’ve definitely been better. What about you?” He asked as he rose up and sat back on his heels. His hands throbbed painfully and his bandages were now wet; the blisters had obviously burst when he had hit the ground.

“I’ll live.” Danny stood and went to help Steve up. They both took a moment to turn and look at Danny’s engulfed apartment. Danny found a strange sort of irony in the fact that it was raining, but that it would do no good against the raging flames.

“God, you just don’t die!” A familiar voice said from behind them.

They slowly turned to look at the man. Danny instinctively pulled his gun as he turned and pointed it at the man. Standing there, holding a gun on Steve was Mark, Mary’s husband.

“Mark?” Steve asked, confused. “What are you… I don’t understand.”

“Put down the gun Mark!” Danny warned.

“Why?” Steve asked, unable to come to terms with what was happening. “I know you hate me, but I never thought you hated me this much.”

“I’m not doing this because I hate you, although it does help,” Mark admitted.

“Then why?”

“Because I have to!”

“No you don’t. Come on Mark, think of Mary and Jack…” Steve pleaded.

“I am thinking of them! If I don’t do this, he’s going to kill them and me!”

“Wo Fat?” Danny asked. “You’re working for Wo Fat?

Mark nodded.

“Oh Mark. How’d you even get mixed up with Wo Fat?”

“I’m the head of security at one of his companies.”

“Wo Fat’s a bank manager…”

“He owns several companies too. He has other people as the faces of the companies, but he controls them.”

“Look, Mark, I know you feel trapped here, but we can help you,” Danny said.

“No you can’t,” Mark sobbed, the gun trembling in his hands.

“Yes, we can. Put down the gun and I swear that we will protect your family and you. All you have to do is testify against Wo Fat, we will put him away and then he can’t touch you or Mary or Jack.”

Mark chuckled. “You obviously have no idea how connected he is. You could spend the rest of your life finding and putting away people who work for him and you still wouldn’t get them all. No, the only way to keep Mary and Jack safe is to kill Steve.”

Danny gripped his gun tighter. Mark was on the edge, he didn’t see any way out, and situations like this never ended well. “Mark, I need you to understand, if you shoot Steve, I will have to kill you. Alright? That’s not going to do your family any good. They need you to be there for them and the only way that that is going to happen is if you put the gun down!”

Mark seemed to think this through. After a moment, he trained his gun on Danny. “It’s not the only way.”

“Mark, please…” Steve begged.

“Mark,” Danny growled warningly.

“I’m sorry.”

Two shots rang out.


	12. Chapter 12

Nearly a week had passed since the shooting. Danny was still in the hospital from the gunshot he had received to the chest. Steve had stayed by his side as often as possible, but went to see Mary for at least a little while every day. She was having a hard time with everything that had happened and Jack was having a hard time understanding why daddy hadn’t come home.

Chin and Kono arrested Wo Fat based on Mark’s confession. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to get them through the front door with a warrant. While searching his home, they found the stolen money and items from the safety deposit boxes in the floor safe of which Steve had spoken. They also found illegal guns and drugs which allowed them to arrest Wo Fat’s men that had been in the house at the time of the raid. From files and evidence that they found in the house, they were able to make further arrests and issue warrants for anyone that they couldn’t find.

 

Today was the day that Danny was getting out of the hospital. His doctor wasn’t happy about it, but Danny insisted.

“Steve, are you sure Mary is going to be okay with this?” Danny asked as Steve tied his tie for him.

“I’m sure Danny; I’ve asked her several times. She doesn’t blame you for Mark’s death,” Steve assured him. “She just can’t believe that he would try to kill someone, especially me. She’s beating herself up because she didn’t see it sooner.”

“No one could have seen that coming.”

“That’s what I keep telling her, but I don’t think there’s really anything that anyone could say to make it better.”

Danny nodded.

“Daddy!” Grace said, running into the hospital room and carefully giving Danny a hug.

“Hey Monkey!” Danny said, cradling the back of her head against him. He looked at Steve. “Could you…?”

Steve smiled and picked Grace up so that Danny could give her a proper hug.

“You look very pretty, is that a new dress?” Danny asked.

Grace nodded. “Mommy bought it for me especially for the funeral.”

“She knew that I was going to support Mary and wanted to be there for Jack,” Rachel explained.

Danny smiled at his daughter. “Well, that is very kind of you. I’m sure Jack will appreciate having a friend there.”

Grace smiled.

“We had better get going,” Steve said. “I promised Mary we’d be there early.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

After the funeral, Danny drove back to Mary’s house. Steve drove Mary and Jack in their car as Mary just didn’t feel like driving. Mary put Jack down for a nap when they arrived; he hadn’t slept well the night before and was exhausted from crying through the funeral.

“Maybe I should go,” Danny said uneasily as they waited downstairs. “I need to be apartment hunting anyways.”

Steve took Danny’s hand in his and gave it a small squeeze. “I promise you, she’s not upset with you.”

“I’m just not good with this sort of thing, especially when it’s not someone I know well.”

“You know me,” Steve said with a smile.

“Yeah, but…”

“What’s going on?” Mary asked as she came down the stairs.

“Danny’s trying to leave.” Danny gave him a shocked and betrayed look.

“You’re not going anywhere Danny, you and Steve are staying with me until you can find another place to live,” Mary said. “And there’s no rush.”

“Oh, no, I really couldn’t…” Danny began.

Mary placed her hands on her hips and gave him a look. “Do you have another place to stay?”

“I was going to stay in a hotel…”

“Nonsense. You’re going to say here.”

“Danny’s still afraid you’re upset with him.”

Mary smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not upset with you Danny. I’m glad you saved my brother and I’m glad that you are alright. You gave Mark a way out of the mess he’d gotten himself into and he didn’t take it. That’s no one’s fault but his own.” A faraway look came into her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t think him trying to kill Steve was the first of his dealings with Wo Fat. He used to come home late or go in very early. He was secretive about where he had been, said that it was company business and that he couldn’t talk about it.”

“Be that as it may, I wish it had turned out differently.”

“I know.” Mary looked to Steve. “Did you tell him about the house?”

“No, I didn’t get the chance to.”

“What house?” Danny asked.

Steve smiled and pulled Danny outside and down the drive. He pointed to the house next door to Mary’s. “That house.”

Danny stared at it for a moment. “What about it?”

“Do you like it?”

“I… guess? Steve, what is this about?”

“It’s for sale. I was thinking about buying it.”

“Oh, wow,” Danny said surprised. “It’s definitely a lot better than your previous tin can.”

Steve chuckled. “And your apartment.” Danny arched a brow. “Wanna live in it with me?”

“You’re asking me to move in with you?”

“Yes, Danno, I am.”

“I… wow,” Danny stuttered, running a hand over his face. For once, he was speechless. “Isn’t that a little fast?”

“For boyfriends, maybe. For roommates with benefits, no. It can be whatever you want it to be… just so long as you say yes.”

“And if I say no?” Danny asked with a smirk.

Steve leaned over and whispered in his ear. “I can be _very_ persuasive.”


End file.
